ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to raise few questions that have come up in the course of theoretical research on the Asiatic mode of production (AMP). Karl Marx mentioned the theoretical concept of the AMP in 1859 in his Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. In addition to describing the process by which he pursued his own research in political economy, Marx discusses the principles of historical materialism guiding this research and the scientific conclusions that flow from it. The AMP is an integral, historically formulated component in the theoretical system of historical materialism. Only by using the principles of historical materialism to examine the evolution of the economic forms of society through history can we correctly understand the historical development of all societies. Many people have consistently understood the AMP as both a concrete social formation and a theory of the character of society that Marx used to evaluate Oriental or ancient Oriental society.
